The way too early '09 prediction thread

[Cyclone42]

The offense, on the other hand, is a hugely differnt story. If you don't think they're better, tell me the last time we had 626 total yards in a single game?

Think about it this way, though. Our defense was so bad, the opposing offenses could often score quickly, giving our offense more time on the field. (The exact opposite of the way things are supposed to work) So, our offense racks up yards, but loses the game badly.

 

[Tornado man]

And the defense will follow....

It better in 2009 or 10 and 11 will be long years.

That is what Bill Callahan tried to do. It followed with Kevin Cosgrove.

Here's an example maybe Gene should follow: Pat Fitzgerald at Northwestern concluded, after his 6-6 (3-5) season last year that his defense and offense weren't producing to his satisfaction. He replaced both coordinators, and brought in the renowed Mike Hankwitz to be DC. Result: Wildcats are 9-3 this year, beat up Iowa in Kinnick, with the defense's entire mind-set and performance upgraded dramatically.
Fitzgerald didn't say, "we're just Northwestern." And he didn't ask the fans to have patience.

 

[CLONE2THEBONE]

And the people who predicted a bowl game this season were not out of line by any stretch of the imagination. This team was close to 6, even 7 wins.

Iowa- outgained them by nearly 100 yards, inside the 5 twice with no points. 5 missed filedgoals. Lost 17-5

UNLV- For some reason we took the first half off. Dominated them after the half. UNLV QB makes the throw of his life to win the game in OT

Kansas- 20-0 lead at half. Key drops late in the game

Colorado- Terrible play call at the end to lose on the 6 inch line.

Kansas State- 630 yards of offense. Left 21 point on the field through penalties, blocked kicks, and fumbles.




For some reason, I am not as down as I thought I would be. There is hope.

You can replay every game and see where we messed up or were close, but you should also do that for the other team, too.

The TD RJ caught wasn't even intended for him, being one example of this.

In the Iowa game, Stanzi missed a wide open Brodell who was standing with no one within 50 yards of him.

You can go on and on. We're not the only team that was close on some plays.

 

[Aclone]

Here's an example maybe Gene should follow: Pat Fitzgerald at Northwestern concluded, after his 6-6 (3-5) season last year that his defense and offense weren't producing to his satisfaction. He replaced both coordinators, and brought in the renowed Mike Hankwitz to be DC. Result: Wildcats are 9-3 this year, beat up Iowa in Kinnick, with the defense's entire mind-set and performance upgraded dramatically.
Fitzgerald didn't say, "we're just Northwestern." And he didn't ask the fans to have patience.

I haven't heard Chizik saying "We're only Iowa State". Ever.

And the situation at Northwestern is hardly the same. Fitzgerald took over because his predecessor died, not because the team was bad. Do you always have such a problem with subtle distinctions?

I give Chizik credit for recognizing where the problems actually rests, just as Fitzgerald obviously did. In the latter case, it obviously wasn't talent.

 

[CLONE2THEBONE]

Bull hockey. What you're doing is saying "We're Iowa State--we can only expect less."

You don't even bother to take a close look at the realities of the program, you just mope along and cry about it. Go on and on about how we're horrible, and it will always be that way. "Oh, gee, we had a bad season, so that automatically means we'll be bad next year".

And that's pure garbage.

The present state of our football program is not new. Don't act like it is.

Even our best successes as a program have been less than spectacular.

You're pretending that this this year is an anomaly and that's pure garbage.

Lie to yourself if you must, but don't expect everyone to view our football program through the same delusional glasses you do.

 

[MontyBurns]

The bigger question for Jamie Pollard is not W's and L's, but how is he going to sell another $11+ million worth of season tickets with the current economy and the team coming off a 10 game losing streak?

 

[Aclone]

You're pretending that this this year is an anomaly and that's pure garbage.

Clue? Obviously it's garbage that you think I'm "pretending" that.

We haven't been good since 2000 or '01. That's no "anomaly".

The offense, at least, shows signs of being better than it has been for a very long time. That's no "anomaly".

The jury is still out on the defense improving, maybe at least to the point of "respectable". We'll see what recruiting holds.

 

[MontyBurns]

Here's an example maybe Gene should follow: Pat Fitzgerald at Northwestern concluded, after his 6-6 (3-5) season last year that his defense and offense weren't producing to his satisfaction. He replaced both coordinators, and brought in the renowed Mike Hankwitz to be DC. Result: Wildcats are 9-3 this year, beat up Iowa in Kinnick, with the defense's entire mind-set and performance upgraded dramatically.
Fitzgerald didn't say, "we're just Northwestern." And he didn't ask the fans to have patience.

Are you joking?

In addition to the note about Fitzgerald replacing a coach who died, he inherited his predecessor's coaching staff. It was pretty much inevitable that he would want to have coordinators who were "his" guys, handpicked by him.

Chizik already has "his" guys in place. They were handpicked by him less than 2 years ago.

 

[Al_4_State]

The bigger question for Jamie Pollard is not W's and L's, but how is he going to sell another $11+ million worth of season tickets with the current economy and the team coming off a 10 game losing streak?

He could drop the price, which might increase volume of sales, and rather than mark-up a bad product, sell it for what it's worth. If it's cheap, a lot of people will buy it, even if they don't need/want it. If it works for Wal-Mart, it can work for us. Unfortunately, Jamie would never do that... Not ripping on Pollard at all, but I feel we could generate more revenue by having a more affordable product, which might maintain or increase the volume of sales when the product is crap, but i fear he'll just be a bit stubborn on current prices, even when there are under 30K at games (if it ever got that bad again).

 

[Tornado man]

I haven't heard Chizik saying "We're only Iowa State". Ever.

And the situation at Northwestern is hardly the same. Fitzgerald took over because his predecessor died, not because the team was bad. Do you always have such a problem with subtle distinctions?

I give Chizik credit for recognizing where the problems actually rests, just as Fitzgerald obviously did. In the latter case, it obviously wasn't talent.

And... Randy Walker dying several years ago has to do with what?

Northwestern's defense last year:
Ave. points allowed: 31
Ave. yards allowed: 410
After the season, Fitzgerald fired his DC, Greg Colby, and wished him well.

Our defense this year:
Ave. points allowed: 35.8
Ave. yards allowed: 453
Those figures are obscene.

 

[Aclone]

The bigger question for Jamie Pollard is not W's and L's, but how is he going to sell another $11+ million worth of season tickets with the current economy and the team coming off a 10 game losing streak?

The last time we sold a bunch of season tickets, it was because a lot of offensive talent were coming back. People wanted to see a good show.

Call me crazy, but I'd call Austen, A Rob, Marquis, Houston, Darius, Sedrick, Derrick, Collin and 4/5 of the offensive line "a lot of talent coming back". And that doesnt even include possible newcomers, or LJ, who caused a lot of buzz.

 

[CLONE2THEBONE]

Clue? Obviously it's garbage that you think I'm "pretending" that.

We haven't been good since 2000 or '01. That's no "anomaly".

The offense, at least, shows signs of being better than it has been for a very long time. That's no "anomaly".

The jury is still out on the defense improving, maybe at least to the point of "repsectable". We'll see what recruiting holds.

I love how you always call everyone out for being clueless or ignorant, but you have to be the poster least in touch with reality of any poster on this board.

This promising offense as you call it did the following:

We scored 30 against KState which is the 2nd lowest total scored against them in Big 12 games all year.

We scored 30 against A&M, again other than Colorado, we scored the least points against them.

Our 7 against Nebbie is the lowest they allowed.

Our 20 against Mizzou, again, only Colorado had a lower total.

10 against Baylor is the lowest they allowed.

Our 17 against OK State was tied for 2nd lowest.

Against Kansas, we actually put quite a few points up.

 

[Tornado man]

Are you joking?

In addition to the note about Fitzgerald replacing a coach who died, he inherited his predecessor's coaching staff. It was pretty much inevitable that he would want to have coordinators who were "his" guys, handpicked by him.

Chizik already has "his" guys in place. They were handpicked by him less than 2 years ago.

Uh, "this just in" for you: Greg Colby was Fitzgerald's DC for two years. Also, they had worked together on the same defensive staff under Randy Walker for 4 years prior to that. Funny, most of Walker's staff is still there...

 

[MontyBurns]

He could drop the price, which might increase volume of sales, and rather than mark-up a bad product, sell it for what it's worth. If it's cheap, a lot of people will buy it, even if they don't need/want it. If it works for Wal-Mart, it can work for us. Unfortunately, Jamie would never do that... Not ripping on Pollard at all, but I feel we could generate more revenue by having a more affordable product, which might maintain or increase the volume of sales when the product is crap, but i fear he'll just be a bit stubborn on current prices, even when there are under 30K at games (if it ever got that bad again).

I think you're right. So far Jamie has been very consistent that he wants to price the product as if it's top level, regardless of what it really is. But he will also go the cheap route if it brings in more revenue and it isn't obvious what he's doing -- for example, the Applebee's mini-paks and the Missouri 4-pack with free t-shirts.

My guess is the 2009 ticket sales will include regular season tickets, mini-paks, some sort of "this game + 1 of these + 1 of these", and maybe even some of the rotating seat deals like we did for basketball years ago, with the result being that the options are so convoluted and confusing that nobody outside of the athletic department will have any idea if sales and revenue go up or down. And if they go down it will be just like 2008 -- not a peep from Pollard.

 

[Aclone]

I love how you always call everyone out for being clueless or ignorant, but you have to be the poster least in touch with reality of any poster on this board.

This promising offense as you call it did the following:

We scored 30 against KState which is the 2nd lowest total scored against them in Big 12 games all year.

We scored 30 against A&M, again other than Colorado, we scored the least points against them.

Well, at least I'm not the one picking and choosing (and ignoring) facts to their heart's content.

Like the vague possibility that our low output against Baylor and Nebby might have been tied to the fact that our quarterback could barely lift his arm.

Or the fact that We put up 626 yards while scoring that thirty points.

Or the fact that this offense was riddled with freshmen and sophomores, hardly a recipe for consistent, persistent success.

Or the fact that that young, raw talent on the field, led by Arnaud, Haughton, Franklin, and Johnson, plus maybe others like Darks and Osemele, is as good as any we have had over the past thirty years--and all on the field at the same time.

Games are won with talent. Gene Chizik has been upgrading that talent, in a big way. That's reality.

 

[MontyBurns]

Uh, "this just in" for you: Greg Colby was Fitzgerald's DC for two years. Also, they had worked together on the same defensive staff under Randy Walker for 4 years prior to that. Funny, most of Walker's staff is still there...

This just in for you, dude: Colby was hired by Walker.

He was retained because replacing a head coach who passed away is obviously not a time to clean house the way it is when replacing a coach who is fired. Obvious to most, anyway, maybe not you. Just because they worked together years ago does not mean Colby was Fitzgerald's top choice as a DC. It was inevitable that sooner or later he was going to have coordinators who were handpicked by him, and now he does.

Comparing Chizik's situation to Fitzgerald's would be like ISU hiring Chizik and telling him he had to keep Barney Cotton as OC for his first year. If that had happened, do you think Gene might have wanted to replace Barney with "his guy" after a year or two, just like Pat Fitzgerald did?

 

[Al_4_State]

I think you're right. So far Jamie has been very consistent that he wants to price the product as if it's top level, regardless of what it really is. But he will also go the cheap route if it brings in more revenue and it isn't obvious what he's doing -- for example, the Applebee's mini-paks and the Missouri 4-pack with free t-shirts.

My guess is the 2009 ticket sales will include regular season tickets, mini-paks, some sort of "this game + 1 of these + 1 of these", and maybe even some of the rotating seat deals like we did for basketball years ago, with the result being that the options are so convoluted and confusing that nobody outside of the athletic department will have any idea if sales and revenue go up or down. And if they go down it will be just like 2008 -- not a peep from Pollard.

I do find it interesting that even though season tickets were down, game to game attendance was stronger than ever. Jamie didn't give those tickets away free, so I'm sure we still did ok.

 

[Tornado man]

This just in for you, dude: Colby was hired by Walker. He was retained because replacing a head coach who passed away is obviously not a time to clean house the way it is when replacing a coach who is fired.

Uh...only after Colby's defense got worse from '06 to '07 did he get fired. It went from giving up 26 ppg to 31, and went from giving up 362 ypg to 410. Otherwise, he would still be there.
This also just in: Fitzgerald hasn't "cleaned house." He kept several assisistant coaches, plus S/C coaches and others, from the Walker era.
Fitzgerald analyzed his staff and replaced those who didn't perform. I hope that Chizik does the same.

 

[MontyBurns]

Uh...only after Colby's defense got worse from '06 to '07 did he get fired. It went from giving up 26 ppg to 31, and went from giving up 362 ypg to 410. Otherwise, he would still be there.
This also just in: Fitzgerald hasn't "cleaned house." He kept several assisistant coaches, plus S/C coaches and others, from the Walker era.
Fitzgerald analyzed his staff and replaced those who didn't perform. I hope that Chizik does the same.

Fitzgerald has not fired, demoted, or otherwise replaced one single coach that he hired. When he replaces a coach that he himself hired for a specific job then you can compare his situation to Gene's. Until then, you can't. Gene started with a staff that he personally selected. He would look pretty foolish if he fires someone he personally selected after less than 2 years.

 

[Wesley]

After experiencing the wort defense in ISU history, it has to be better next year. And the offense needs to average 35 points a game to compete.

Did the weight regimen do us well this tear. Comments?